Why is Vanderbilt known as a party school?
The social life revolves around Greek life, which revolves around parties. Simple as that. There are other social events that you can attend if you don’t want to be Greek, but you’ll never be in the “mainstream” necessarily.
What derp125 said is completely correct. That is the simplest answer to your question. I’d add some nuance to that though.
The “party school” reputation is a rather strange thing. 15 years ago, when the admissions standards were much lower and the school was populated by wealthy southerners, this was a true aspect of the school. Nowadays, it is more of a self label that the student body is obsessed with.
Most everyone at Vanderbilt is a huge nerd no matter how hard they try to hide it, and people are generally pretty lame/uncool. Any top tier frat or sorority here would be bottom tier at a state school.
The point: don’t expect a truly wild and rowdy “party school” experience that is associated with some state schools. Vanderbilt is not Arizona State. What you can expect, however, is a social scene that revolves around nerds trying their hardest to mimic actual party schools and pretend that they are cool/hardcore bros, while worshipping the mantra of “work hard play hard.”
@fdgjfg I don’t think I’ve ever read a more accurate description of Vandy kids…LOL. First time I ever laughed out loud at a CC post :-bd
Why can’t nerds or intellectual folks be cool?..Wait, actually the latter can be, the first, especially when pretending to be something else or trying hard not to be the latter probably cannot. The students who are true party animals at certain state schools aren’t necessarily cool. Some are quite douchey actually. But I guess it is one thing to be douchey and own it and another to try so hard to be.
When I hear “nerd” I typically think “antisocial.” Antisocial definitely does not describe the most of Vanderbilt student body. The majority do take their education pretty seriously though. Vanderbilt Greek students are much tamer and invested in their education than stereotypical Greek students, but they still spend a lot of their time socializing.
Vanderbilt might classify as a party school when you compare it to other top universities; in this context, it has a very vibrant social scene. However, Vanderbilt is not even on the same scale as some other universities that are traditionally called “party schools.” I am reminded of the weekends when Ole Miss or UF rolled onto Vandy’s campus for a football tailgate and brought levels of ruckus that we could never (and would never) produce on our own.
Oh…Yeah, not many top schools have many particularly anti-social people, especially Vandy or any with a huge liberal arts orientation. Sometimes I worry that some folks just call people who like learning academic things for more than just a class “nerds”…I have heard it loosely thrown around like that before and it always reminds me of anti-intellectual elements and traditions in this country.
@derp125 Thanks, don’t even get me started. I’ve spent enough time thinking about the Vandy mindset that I could probably write a book on it.
@bernie12 and @Pancaked In my understanding being a “nerd” is associated with having a deep investment in a specific hobby that is not directly social. So there are a million types of nerds: video game nerds, music nerds, bodybuilding nerds, makeup nerds, etc. Top schools have little pockets of all these types, but also have a ubiquitous and universal type, because everyone is a school nerd. Everyone was into school enough to spend a ton of time doing homework and studying for exams, getting leadership positions, doing extracurriculars, and taking standardized tests so that they could get admitted to a high caliber school.
At some top schools, students embrace their own nerdiness/intellectualism and love for school and can be cool in their own way, maybe in a cafe discussing important ideas or through their achievements. They drink and go out, but mostly, school comes before partying. At real party schools there are a ton of kids who are just there for four years of alcohol fueled debauchery with class serving as hangover recovery time. What happens at Vanderbilt is school nerds start fronting that they’re these wild and crazy guys, like “dudebro I totally have a test tomorrow too bad I got wasted last night lol IDGAF.” In reality, they care a lot, and they’ve been studying for that test for a week and are completely over prepared. I’ve actually known people who try to study in secret or hide all the work they do.
Everyone just gets so into how “at Vanderbilt we party hardy, we rage man!” and other similar sentiments, and so this whole attitude gets built up. Later, you go to a party and it’s completely lame compared to a state school, and no wonder: the kids who are throwing it have spent the last week obsessively studying carboxylic acid reaction mechanisms for an orgo exam. The kids throwing it scored a 34 ACT on average. It just comes across as really disingenuous and fake.
@fdgjfg : That usually is “geek”. Usually “geeks” are deeply invested in something non-social. Also gaming…especially in groups is a grey area. But in general, let’s take an example of using nerd in the loose sense. Emory is full of nerds (those who are very smart and maybe dedicate a huge chunk of time to things that maybe involve using their mind academically) and Georgia Tech would have way more “Geeks” (students that dedicate lots of passion and time to very specific hobbies not necessarily academic or social). That is how I usually think about it. One is often approaching something from a more “intellectual” or “practical” (as in resume boosting, gaining skills) point of view, and the other is just into because it is fun.
You defined it yourself:
“Everyone was into school enough to spend a ton of time doing homework and studying for exams, getting leadership positions, doing extracurriculars, and taking standardized tests so that they could get admitted to a high caliber school.”
Note the practicality. When I think of more “stereotypical” nerds, I think of the more “geeky” types. What you describe is mainly people with an “achievement” orientation…which doesn’t necessarily have the intellectual nor true passion component. Some times it is more of a “fear for the future” or “under lots of pressure” type of thing. I hardly want to equate it with nerdiness because that can sometimes be pleasant, and like you say, essentially add to the climate of campus. You get more of the: “…students [that’] embrace their own nerdiness/intellectualism and love for school and can be cool in their own way, maybe in a cafe discussing important ideas or through their achievements. They drink and go out, but mostly, school comes before partying.” as you describe it.
Also, Americans, especially those at more selective institutions seems to place a social premium on making things, especially academics look “effortless” which may explain why some study in secret. A lot of high achievers have gone through school perhaps being told and praised on their “natural talent” and how everything seems so easy when they do it. And this ease and lack of effort is praised by peers. When some people have ultra high scores and appear perfect and gotten so much praise for making things look effortless, there is no wonder they don’t want be seen as either caring or being challenged.
However, yes, I didn’t see stuff like that but so often. Even the people who like to party and are maybe in Greeklife were fine with dedicating a lot of time and displaying their effort to everyone else. I guess that wasn’t much of an issue, especially if they were intentionally taking challenging classes and instructors (that is how I measure nerdiness in the traditional sense: Are the students just taking classes or are they actively pursuing the highest quality instructor even if they are hard. Do you like discussing what you are learning or doing with others or do you just complain or praise the workload or lackthereof? You know what combo will deem the student somewhat of a nerd) There was no pretending to not care because if they slip off the median because of their habbits, they’re looking at a C (or something if it is a curved class). However, I have to wonder if the appearance of effortlessness is more common with guys. I used to go tutor ochem at a sorority house and many of them would be studying whether they had an event coming or not. Many would even skip the events and show up to the library as a group (it seemed as if the frats put significantly more pressure on the guys to show up no matter what and they would usuallyb buckle whereas women were more like: “screw you! I see you guys all the time…and can thus afford to miss X, completing Y is much more important right now”). I think there is a reason that women often get higher grades, especially in non-STEM courses that require higher engagement outside of class (like writing, lots more reading, etc…not just studying for an exam or quiz).
Either way, other than lame parties, which are parties and social vibrance nonetheless, would you honestly have the type of environment that some other schools have or attempting to have? It seems the social culture there is a huge draw and is certainly good enough if not awesome to most. I’m sure many want to do without the more intellectual or academic vibe at other institutions because the current one makes Vandy stand out.